I Want You Around
by Maximillian Havisham
Summary: The fighting is over. Peace has come to stay, but there is still one battle left to be fought.


Just the sight of them made his blood boil. There they were, talking casually as if no time had passed at all. The only noticeable difference this time around was the slight grin on Sasuke's lips. It seemed genuine. Suave bastard.

Naruto's face was scrunched up, his nose wrinkling as he watched Sakura blush and giggle each time Sasuke opened his mouth. She was so cute when she did that thing with her nose. How it would wiggle a couple of times before a sweet laugh escaped from her mouth.

"Stop sulking, will you? They're just talking." Kakashi – the recently appointed sixth hokage – said to his problem student. "You can go over there if you want."

"No." Naruto refused with a firm shake of his head. "Sakura said she wanted to talk to Sasuke alone. I'll wait until they're done." He crossed his arms, his left foot impatiently tapping on the dirt as his pout grew and his posture worsened.

An exasperated sigh filtered out of Kakashi's mask. "Suit yourself." He said languidly after a resigned shrug.

The fourth ninja war had finally come to an end after a long, grueling battle. Shinobi from all over – no matter their village or clan - stood together to defend the world they shared from the ancient sins of their past in the form of the goddess Kaguya Otsutsuki, the originator of all known jutsu.

At first it seemed like their earnest struggle that was doomed to fail, but thanks to Team Seven's tireless efforts Kaguya was finally defeated. Everything was back to how it should have been, and peace had finally been achieved because of the efforts of two young men: Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha.

The child of prophecy and the prodigal son. They clashed one final time with their ideals on the line, and it was in this battle they finally reached a resolution. Something their forefathers had failed to do. They understood each other, and in doing so their bond was reformed; stronger than it had been previous.

It had been nearly two months since that day, and the shinobi world was starting to quiet. Everyone was prepared for a long-lasting age of peace. Though even in this beginning phase, there was one final conflict that had to be waged between the two reunited friends.

Who would claim the heart of Sakura Haruno?

It was an uphill battle from the start for Naruto Uzumaki – a battle that Sasuke himself didn't even know he was a part of. For as long as the blonde could remember, he had been in love with Sakura; but she was in love with Sasuke for that same amount of time. Nonetheless he kept pressing forward – it was his nindo after all.

After he returned from training with Jiraiya, Naruto thought that his chance had come at last. He would show her how much he had changed since they last saw one another. For the most part he succeeded. Despite her still scolding him for his rash – and sometimes perverted – behavior, Naruto felt that he was starting to get closer to Sakura.

Then Sasuke returned.

Naruto was happy to have his friend back, he really was, but this meant that he was now back to square one when it came to his love life. It was beyond frustrating.

"Oh. She's coming this way."

Naruto stood straight as Sakura made her way over. When her gaze shifted from the departing Sasuke to Naruto, her smile eroded into an irritated scowl.

"What are you doing, Naruto?"

"N-nothing! Just standing."

"Well stop straining so much, you'll open your wounds back up."

"R-right. Sorry." Naruto relaxed his body, but his nerves were still on edge.

"What are you doing out here anyway? You need to be resting."

"I didn't want Kakashi-sensei to come out here by himself." Naruto lied with a smile. "He can get emotional sometimes, ya know?"

_Seriously?_ Kakashi rolled his eyes. _Just say you wanted to talk to her._

"Uh huh." Sakura turned Naruto around and started pushing towards the village gates. "Come on. Back to bed for you. Lady Tsunade will kill both of us if you get hurt again."

"Wait, Sakura! Hold on! I can walk by myself."

"Yeah. Yeah. Just get moving."

* * *

"How long do I have to stay here?"

"Until your arm is healed. The cells haven't finished growing it back yet."

Sakura finished peeling the apple in her hands and placed it on the plate along with two others she peeled earlier. She then grabbed the blanket from her bag and sat down on the couch close to the window.

This is where she had been spending most of her days. If she wasn't helping Tsunade or Shizune with something, or training with Ino, she was in Naruto's hospital room. For two or three days a week she would stay with him all day, monitoring the progress of his arm and helping him with various things to keep him from hurting himself.

Naruto was overjoyed the first few times she stayed the night, but now he was starting to feel self-conscious. It felt less like she stayed because she **cared**, and more because she felt pity for him. He didn't know how he would feel if the latter were true.

"Sasuke's going away for a while." She said, her eyes on the pale moon behind the clouds. "He said he's going to travel the world and see how much has changed. He called it atonement for all the things he had done."

"Really?" Naruto couldn't help but feel bad. Once again his friends had been separated from him.

"He said he would be back, and I believe him." Sakura smiled. "So we'll just have to wait."

"Y-yeah." Naruto forced himself to smile. The warmth and love in her voice, it had confirmed his suspicions. She was still in love with Sasuke.

"What's wrong?"

Naruto's eyes widened, Sakura had moved her face closer to his without him realizing it. His cheeks flushed red when she placed her hand on his forehead.

"You don't have a fever. That's good."

"I-I'm fine!" Naruto shouted, his entire body now red.

"Be quiet." Sakura hissed. "We aren't the only ones at the hospital."

"Oh!" Naruto covered his mouth. "Sorry."

Sakura sighed and sat back in her chair. "Honestly. You can be such a handful."

"I know." Naruto smiled sadly. "Hey, Sakura…"

"What is it?"

"It's great that you come to see me and all. I really appreciate it, but…you don't have to force yourself."

The girl's eyebrow raised in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean if you wanted to go with Sasuke you could have. You don't have to hold back because of me."

Sakura's eyes widened. Naruto's odd behavior over the past few hours. It was finally starting to make sense to her. The sad look in his eyes. His hunched shoulders. His pathetic tone. There was only one thing she could do in this situation.

"Can I tell you a story, Naruto?"

"Huh?" Sakura's question seemingly came out of nowhere, but Naruto decided to hear what she had to say. "Uh. Sure. Yeah."

"I once knew this kid. We were in the same class in the shinobi academy. I remember the first time I saw him. He ran into class late, his clothes stained with dirt and paint as he held a still dripping brush in his hand. Iruka-sensei was **so** mad. He kept screaming and screaming, but the kid just kept laughing like he didn't have a care in the world. Later on I would find out that the reason he was so dirty was because he defaced the Hokage Rock - which he did pretty often. I knew from that moment that I didn't like him."

Naruto started to sulk. It was obvious who this story was about. Nonetheless he continued to listen to her tale.

"Every day he would show up to class late; all because of some dumb prank he just pulled. If that wasn't enough, he was a complete failure as a shinobi. Even a basic shadow clone was beyond his ability. Nonetheless, he declared he would be the Hokage. Can you believe it? A kid who could barely summon a clone was talking about being the leader of the entire village. It was hard **not** to laugh at him."

Naruto sank even deeper into his bed.

"I tried my best to ignore him, but he always talked to me no matter how many times I turned him away. It was really annoying. Things only got worse when we were put on the same team. Granted I was happy because Sasuke was there, but I kept thinking to myself 'why did they have to put this kid with us?'. Well that's what I thought at first at least…"

The softness in Sakura's voice prompted Naruto to look up just a bit. She was still gazing at the moon. The light reflected beautifully from her porcelain skin.

"I remember when we went on our first B-Rank mission to the Land of Waves. We faced some pretty strong shinobi. I was so scared. I really thought I was going to die, but the boy wasn't scared at all - if he was he didn't show it. He kept fighting. He didn't care what happened to him. As long as the people he was protecting were safe he would keep going. It was kind of inspiring.

After that, I watched this troublemaker slowly but surely grow into a reliable shinobi, one that I would even call a friend. Though when I think back on it…I didn't probably deserve to call him that."

Naruto watched Sakura's smile melt into a melancholic frown.

"W-why not?" he asked tentatively.

"I did so many terrible things to him." Sakura admitted. "I ridiculed him, hit him, scolded him for the dumbest things, but I think the worst thing I ever did...was lie to him."

"What did you lie about?"

"A teammate of mine told me that the boy was in love with me. It came as a complete shock. Though think a part of me had always known that, but I just ignored it. The more my teammate spoke about it, the harder the wave of emotions hit me. A selfish request that I made so many years ago, caused him so much pain, but I was too blind to see it. How could I have done that? He nearly got himself killed, torturing himself all because of **my** weakness. I thought I had changed, but in reality things had only gotten worse. When I tried to fix it, I ended up lying right to his face. I knew his feelings for me were real, and I tried to use those to my advantage. I thought that I was helping him, but I was just being selfish again."

"Sakura…" Naruto remembered that day well. The snow was so cold on his skin, but he ignored it all for the girl standing in front of him. He knew immediately that she was lying to him, but he couldn't help the small tug in his heart at the possibility of her telling the truth. Even so, he couldn't let her lie to herself. That wouldn't have been the girl he fell in love with. He watched her wipe a tear from her eye even though she continued to smile.

"He saw right through me, but I wasn't really surprised. I thought the only reason he was going that far was because of me. Now that I think about it, that was probably me being selfish again. The worst part was…I was lying to myself as well."

Naruto's eyes started to widen.

"The more I tried to deny it, the more I found myself thinking about him. His smile, his stupid jokes, his pigheadedness, but more importantly...how he always helped people who needed him. How he was there when **I** needed him. It made me feel even worse about the way I treated him. Those feelings buried themselves deeper and deeper into myself. So much so that I could never say how I felt. I wish I could just start over."

"…What would you do if you did?" Naruto hesitantly asked. He was starting to sweat. "Start over I mean."

Sakura moved closer. "I would grab his hand like this, look him directly in the eye, and apologize for everything I put him through. I would also thank him for everything he did for not just me, but for everyone in village, and everyone in the world. If it weren't for him, who knows where would be right now?"

Naruto's heart was pounding so hard and fast that he was sure the entire village could hear it. The warmth of Sakura's hand spread throughout his body, waking a certain nine-tailed fox from his slumber.

_You're gonna have a heart attack if you don't calm down, kid._ Kurama teased with a smirk.

_Shut up!_

"So what do you think?" Sakura asked, her smile widening. "Would that be good enough?"

Naruto quickly looked away, his face completely crimson. "Y-yeah! I think that would be a good place to start."

"I see. That's good. Oh I almost forgot. There was something else I needed to tell him."

"Wha-!"

Sakura turned Naruto's head and pressed her lips against his.

His heart stopped for a moment. He tried to make sense of what was happening, but his thoughts were racing too fast for him to think clearly. Sakura was kissing him. Sakura was kissing him! No matter how many times he said this to himself it didn't seem real, but it was. It was happening right now!

Just as he was starting to settle in she broke contact. He felt a little cold at the loss of her warmth, but her smile was enough to him up again.

In spite of himself he asked, "What about Sasuke?"

Sakura seemed put off by his question. "A girl just gave you her first kiss, and the first thing you ask about is another guy?"

"It's just…I thought you and Sasuke were…"

"We were what?"

"I don't know…dating I guess? You were talking a really long time earlier."

Sakura sighed. "Of course you would think that." she muttered. "Believe it or not, we were mostly talking about **you**."

"You were?"

"I was really conflicted about how to tell you how I felt, but Sasuke told me that it didn't matter. No matter what I said you would get the message." she smirked. "Seems he was **mostly** right."

"Oh." Naruto started to smile. "Alright then!"

Sakura looked to the moon again. "Truth is. I will **always** care about Sasuke, but…I don't feel **that** way about him anymore. We're just very different people now. My feelings changed. I found someone that I care about even more. Someone that also cares about me just as much as I do them."

Naruto pointed at himself.

"Yes, dummy. You." She giggled, squeezing his hand tighter. "I have another once in a lifetime request. If you'll hear me out."

"I think you can only make one of those."

"Just listen, dummy." she grinned. "No matter what happens I will stick by you, just like you've done for me. So…don't leave me alone, ok?"

Naruto smiled wide. "I think that's a request I can do."

* * *

**This one has been sitting on the back burner for a while. Fun fact: I actually wanted to post this on Valentine's Day, but eventually settled on my RWBY post. I think this will be my first foray into the Naruto pool of fics. I won't dip my toes in it a lot, but this was something I wanted to do for a while. hopefully you all liked it.**

**As always leave a comment/review letting me know what you think. Thanks for reading!**


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